Vista

Vista is a medium-sized city within the San Diego-Carlsbad, CA Metropolitan Area and has a population of 101,638. Vista's sphere of influence also includes portions of unincorporated San Diego County to north and east, with a county island in the central west. Located just seven miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, it has a Mediterranean climate.  Vista has more than 25 educational institutions for youth, and a business park home to over 800 companies. Vista is ranked as the 173rd-best place in California out of 240 for families, based on factors such as family life, recreational opportunities, education, health, safety, and affordability in a 2015 review.

Education

The Vista Unified School District serves Vista. Vista has eighteen elementary schools, six middle schools, and seven high schools, including Rancho Buena Vista High School, Vista High School and Mission Vista High School. Guajome Park Academy is a charter school with joint elementary, middle, and high schools that receives part of its funding from the Vista Unified School District. Alta Vista Continuation High School is another option for teens who cannot attend regular school. There are 12 private schools serving over 2500 students including Tri-City Christian School, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School and Calvary Christian School.  Biola University and Kaplan College have a branch campus in Vista.

Recreation

Vista is home to two city-owned theaters: the recently updated Moonlight Amphitheatre and the Avo Playhouse. The Moonlight is an open-air theater that specializes in musical productions, performing several Broadway caliber, musical productions during the course of the summer. A winter season concert venue called ClubM hosts shows where the performance and audience areas are on the Moonlight stage, sheltered from the elements. The Avo Playhouse located in historic downtown Vista is rented year round for private performances.

Several popular downtown events include the North County St. Patrick's Day Parade & Festival, the Vista Strawberry Festival, the Vista Rod Run (over 25 years running) and the annual Winterfest & Christmas Parade.

Vista houses one movie theater, currently a Cinepolis theater (as of 2015), but which opened as a Krikorian Cinema in fall 2003.

Two of the best-known parks in the city are Brengle Terrace Park and Guajome County Park. Brengle Terrace Park houses the Moonlight Amphitheatre, Alta Vista Gardens (a city-owned botanical garden), two softball fields, a senior center, a playground, and the city community center, where the main offices of the city's day camps are held. Guajome County Park has 557 acres (2.25 km²) of land, which is shared between Vista and nearby Oceanside. It features a small lake, willow and oak woodlands, campsites, horse trails, and the Rancho Guajome Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. Buena Vista Park on the south side of Vista is a natural park where users can hike on trails through native chaparral and oak woodland.

The Rancho Guajome Adobe and Rancho Buena Vista Adobe are two historic rancho buildings in Vista, built in the mid-nineteenth century, both available for tours and special occasions.

The city's Parks and Recreation Department runs the Wave Waterpark, a small but well-equipped waterpark in the downtown area open from mid-spring to early fall, and the brand new Vista Community Sports Park. Another attraction is the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum, an open-air museum demonstrating agricultural equipment from the 19th and early 20th centuries. A Boomers family fun park is also located in Vista.

Vista is home of a Japanese-American Cultural Center and Buddhist Temple, one of only two in California, a mosque, and over 75 other churches and temples of various denominations.